All posts by Adam Popovich

I once shot a man named JR. Incidentally it was in Reno, but it wasn't frivolous, it was for many deeply personal, guarded reasons I shall not share.

Game Of Thrones Review: 3.06 – ‘The Climb’

Here we are in the second half of the third season of Game Of Thrones, and for those who haven’t read the books, I’d imagine things are getting frustrating when it comes to pacing. Granted not every episode could be the tour de force that was episode 3.04 “And Now His Watch Is Ended” aka “The Badass Episode With Dragons & Daenerys F***ing S*** UP” as most of my non book reading friends refer to it. Unfortunately with a series that has a cast of dozens, there has to be room made for the many storylines to all come together in lots of interesting ways. The most difficult thing for me, is trying to pinpoint what exactly is new to the story, adapted differently, or I’m just plain forgetting. That all being said, while “The Climb” wasn’t the most riveting episode in terms of plot advancement, it did well to establish important character beats that will pay off later. Or they should, unless they’re changed. Or done differently.

The Climb
darkness will be your cloak & your shield

Regardless of the changes, the episode did a good job of having all the concurrent stories touched on and expanded in interesting ways. We started off with Samwell and Gilly escaping off into the Gods know where trying to save her baby who had the audacity to be born a boy, followed quickly by Meera Reed trading some barbs with Osha about skinning rabbits. (Women!) Ostensibly they’re all working together to follow the Three Eyed Crow’s dream, who’s guiding them along a vague and unknowable path of certain divine and/or fortuitous significance, that even I’m not sure of. I don’t even think they’ve really gotten around to what they’re really after just yet, even in the books. Then again I’m impossibly stupid sometimes.

Beyond The Wall we got to see Jon Snow and Ygritte finally put into words their bond with each other, as well as her admission of knowledge that she figured out he’s still doing the double agent thing for The Night’s Watch. Of course, love blinds all to duty, honor or loyalty, and she makes a pretty reasonable argument as to him staying loyal to her only, by threatening to cut off his Johnson and wear it around her neck if he betrays her. Generally when women tell me that, I run the hell away, or I’m super turned on and maybe that’s the reason why  all of my relationships are horrific meltdowns of apocalyptic emotional proportion?

The Climb
Source: A Masterpiece in Chaos

Anyhow! Afterward, there’s a tense scene between Lady Melisandre and Thoros who discuss in Valyrian their agendas to the Lord of Light. We see Melisandre shaken for the first time, as she meets 6-times resurrected Lord Beric, and she proclaims it’s not possible. Which was interesting, because I’m positive Melisandre didn’t have this interaction in the book. Her role is beefed up here, and she’s portrayed a bit more humanely, as opposed to the starkly conniving, mysterious and witchy woman she is in the novels. Then they sell poor Gendry for gold to her. Because she needs nubile boys to make armor for her or something. I mean, sure yeah he’s technically the son of Rob Baratheon, but nobody really cares about King Rob anymore, and the only guy who did had his head chopped off. What? Too soon?

Then back with Theon, which is the one part of the show that’s entirely, wholly new, and subsequently to me is the most interesting. We’re just as curious as he is as to why Simon from Misfits torturing him so horribly, (I mean I have an idea, but no spoilers), or even who he is and where they even are. Theon is then forced to play a horrible game of “Guess who I am, where we are, and what’s going on, or else I slowly rip the skin off your fingers!”, which is the worst f***ing game in the world, probably. Right after all team sports. YEAH THAT’S RIGHT, I’M CALLING YOU OUT ALL SPORTS FANS! SUCK IT!

The ClimbThe Climb

Source: Ha, Never Again

Well eventually Theon loses, and we’re back to seeing Jaime and Brienne making a deal with Lord Roose Bolton, a man who’ll become very important soon, in ways I won’t ruin for you. We learn that poor Brienne won’t be let go along with Jaime, and Jaime’s defense of her slowly clinches Jaime’s eventual face-turn as an anti-hero. Then we get to see Lord Tywin and Lady Olenna Tyrell exchange snarky quips, the way old people do. I don’t know if it was just me, but if they were both about 30 years younger I have a feeling they would have totally boned right on that table. Right? Nobody but me got that?

The Climb

Okay then. Some more rumination on by the Lannisters, this time both Tyrion and Cercei, on their arranged marriage woes, then Tyrion’s awkward revelation to poor Sansa Stark that she now has to marry him. Which I guess is a downgrade from marrying a super hunky gayboy,  but personally I think Tyrion is much better company. All Loras has going for him is his knighthood, his looks, and his skills with a “sword”, as Lady Olenna would put it. Then Sansa cries because truly there is no fate worse than marrying a midget. Or something about her whole life being controlled by others, never being able to hang onto any semblance of happiness, and having every bit of hope snatched away from her. Either or.

The Climb
Source: Every man will be a King

Back at the wall, Snow and Co. are climbing it slowly, on the way to make their attack against Castle Black. Eventually the ice cracks and makes a big avalanche, nearly taking out Snow and Ygritte, who manage to save themselves in the nick of time right before their untrustworthy compatriot cut them loose. Then they climb on top, hug and share the scenic view of the land beyond the wall. All romantic and s**t. The end.

The Climb

Like I said earlier, as a fan of the books it’s difficult to reconcile what I’m thinking is new, and what I’m just not remembering. I read the book sometime last year, and while I know the broad strokes of the story, watching episodes like these is still interesting if only for the character building. Fans of the show only may find the pacing incongruent with the last two seasons, but that’s only because SO MANY THINGS happen in A Storm Of Swords we’re really only about 1/4 of the way through the book, and I have a firm idea in mind exactly what the season finale will be. So will any reader of the books, and waiting for that moment to happen is as anxious and as exciting as watching the show and seeing all the new developments, thematic changes, and straight up plot changes. It’s still the same story overall, but episodes like this highlight how the little scenes in a novel can translate into other things entirely, simply by the nature of the story becoming a visual medium. So yeah, it wasn’t the most important episode in relation to the plot of the others in the show, but character development, foreshadowing, and of course those awfully great added torturing scenes with Theon, keep the whole thing fresh and interesting for folks like me, who are silently waiting everyone else to have their damn socks blown off.

The Climb

If you’re complaining about the story not moving fast enough right now, stick with it. Believe you me, when your socks are flying around the damned room in circles and your balls or ovaries are exploding or whatever, you’ll thank me. Oh how you’ll thank me.

Check out the promo for next the next episode, ‘The Bear and the Maiden Fair‘ now!

[Editor’s Note – I thought this was one of the best episodes of the whole show. The scene between Littlefinger and the Spider at the end, as well as the one with Tywin and Lady Olenna were both about as good as you’ll see. I have no problem with the pacing. That is all.]

The Climb

Ros_ Mis step

‘Hellmouth’ Looks Tantalizing!

I’m a big fan of Horror. I think that it, along with Science Fiction, are the two most important genres in all of fiction, and that truly successful horror can encompass every other genre perfectly. It’s because more or less life is pretty horrifying when you think about it, and life holds all the genres in it at once, and in that way, life is just a long, protracted existential horror film we all live in real time. But enough philosophy, the real reason I’m writing this is to spread the word of Hellmouth. Which no, isn’t some kind of delightfully sexy demonic orifice which would grant you the literally most sinful pleasure imaginable, but rather a film.

Hellmouth
Here’s Stephen McHattie dressed as a Vulcan for no real reason.

For those of you who aren’t familiar, Hellmouth is a film with a striking pedigree that has me captivated by its creators alone. It’s written by Tony Burgess, who wrote probably the most creative and inventive “zombie” film in the last decade, Pontypool. He’s now writing Hellmouth, which is being directed by John Geddes, who did 2011’s Exit Humanity, which I’ve heard nothing but good things about. Add to the fact that Stephen McHattie is in it and you’ve got me sold. Stephen McHattie is one of those criminally underrated actors, and I’ll never understand why he’s not more famous or used for more roles. You’d most likely recognize him as Nite Owl 1 from Watchmen, but it’s his standout performance in Pontypool that cemented him as a brilliant actor in my mind. As for Hellmouth itself? I’ll let the director state the intention of the film himself:

[quote]Per Director Geddes, “I wanted to create a story-driven film with fantasy and horror combined. Something that was directly inspired by the era of Hitchcock and even Ed Wood. Working with a writer like Tony Burgess was a pleasure as we both love the simplicity in many of the old classic films of the 50′s and 60′s, and even earlier in films like Nosferatu and Faust. We worked really hard to make Hellmouth something fresh.”[/quote]

via [Bloody-Disgusting]

[one_half]I’m always all for throwback horror, but I’m more interested in seeing any trailers or previews for this film, because the name alone is enough to captivate me, not to mention the talent behind it. There currently is an Indiegogo fundraiser thing for it currently however. The preview on it isn’t exactly a preview of the film per se, because it’s mostly unfinished and going through extensive post-production. There’s a few neat glimpses of things that will be in the movie though. Monsters and some stills of Stephen McHattie being badass.

The problem is I rarely can find myself caring enough about crowdfunded projects to give a damn, probably because I’m very cheap. For example, I’m a huge Veronica Mars/Kristen Bell fan, but I didn’t donate to the Kickstarter for the new movie, because I’d rather spend my money on useless crap or alcohol. As for Hellmouth, If it actually turns out to be about demonic sex mouths that taunt you into having oral sex with them until you’re full of dick-sin… Holy S***! Sadly, I don’t think that’s exactly “50’s” in its feel. But, now I have a great new idea to add to my script! Thanks, Hellmouth! [/one_half]http://www.indiegogo.com/project/346765/widget/3146077

 

 

More Benedict Cumberbatch in New Star Trek Clip

I think the most interesting thing about all the clips and previews we’ve seen from the new Star Trek movie is definitely Benedict Cumberbatch. Not just in a  “Oh who is he?” sort of way, (although GODDAMMIT WHO IS HE?!), but more in that he’s probably the best actor of the bunch, with the possible exception of Karl Urban. I say Karl Urban, because I defy you to watch Dredd and think that dude pulled off the most menacing and accurate portrayal of Judge Dredd, all only using the lower half of his face. That’s irrelevant though, because the real meat and bones here is the fancy new clip we have of Benedict acting circles around Chris Pine. Probably because of his soothing, baritone voice and limey accent. Those brits always have inherently more authoritative voices don’t they? Here, judge for yourself:

There’s been talk about the “villain in a glass cage” trope that’s being used here, but I don’t really find that all that interesting or revelatory. Tropes exist and will continue to do so. The creation of a new one isn’t anything to be particularly surprised about, unless for some terrible reason anal-eel interrogations become a new movie trope, and every movie has a scene with a good guy getting violated anally by writhing eels while the villain taunts and cackles from the darkness. Is that how Zero Dark Thirty started? I know there was an interrogation scene somewhere… Oh god I hope my horrific prediction hasn’t come true! HOLLYWOOD, NO ANAL EEL INTERROGATION SCENES PLEASE!

Well to get that awful image out of your head, here’s a few new posters featuring Chekov and Scotty via Moviefone. Frankly I find that Chekov adorable. Much more adorable that Walter Koenig ever was. Granted Koenig was amazing in his role, but have you seen him lately? So not adorable anymore.

Star Trek Star Trek

Oh and lastly, a friend of mine was browsing through a bookstore and found a new Star Trek novel, where the cover art is strangely drawn so that Kirk looks halfway between Shatner and Pine and the more I look at it the more convinced I am it’s ripping my sanity in half.

Star Trek

New Trailer & Sneak Peek & Pics From ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’

Shocker of shockers, it’s still a month away from the release of Star Trek Into Darkness, but those bastards out there responsible for hyping the film still find it necessary to ceaselessly tantalize any and every Trekkie out there by releasing little clips or new stills. In particular a new trailer has been released, and this time it gives us a bit more of a confirmation of the growing themes for these Star Trek movies. It’s almost definitely revenge and the pursuit of it destroying you. This trailer paints a clear picture of Kirk becoming his own personal Ahab, with Cumberbatch painted as his white whale. I’m looking forward to the movie obviously, but I’m more looking forward to seeing how the film will stand up as the ever so important “middle” entry in the series, if it is indeed a thematic trilogy we’re getting with these new Star Trek films. Sure there could and probably will be more, but in the same way Wrath Of Khan, Search For Spock and Voyage Home were all linked around the character for Spock, this first three can be around the idea of revenge. I’m just looking to see how it’s all going to play out in the grand spectrum of things, because this trailer certainly makes the film look to be very, very revenge-centric. Overcome personal demons and all that. It’s literally titled INTO DARKNESS, so I suppose that’s the first clue anyway.

Also there was a new teaser that was shown on the MTV Movie Awards, which I would have never seen if not for Internet. I think the only reason I ever even put on MTV anymore is to watch that Catfish show. I have this fantasy about someone really beautiful pretending to be a total uggo, starting an online relationship with that person, and revealing that they’re actually totally gorgeous after all. Surprise! You got reverse-Catfished! I mean, that’d be a much more interesting show than one about a bunch of weird broken people pretending to be people they’re not right? How does this relate to Star Trek? It doesn’t. At all. And I’ll tell you why; It’s because there’s only so many ways you can possibly look at what generally adds up to the same series of clips, trailers, previews with a new little scene added in to make it technically new, and not just immediately groan in impatience and frustration. I’m not necessarily a child of instant gratification, but let’s just say I tend to like things as a sudden surprise than a long, excruciatingly dragged out wait. When it comes to film or TV, the journey is never the point, it’s always the destination. Unlike life, which is almost always the opposite.

Well regardless of my elaborate and terrible bitching, (because I’m a huge bitchy little emo man-baby), the clip does look goddamned neat, and the myriad pictures collected spell an interesting story. One I’m still not sure about, but why would I want to be? I’m one of those people who enjoys being surprised by a movie, and often films I’ve loved the most are the ones I knew nothing about beforehand at all. Take a look at them for yourself, and you be the judge of whether you find yourself wanting to know more about the scenes they’re from.

http://youtu.be/G36yAb0pDT8

See like I said, that teaser was interesting, but mainly composed of things we’ve seen before, with little barely perceptible snippets of new stuff. I get it though, it’s a teaser. You’re supposed to watch it over and over to try to guess. I suppose I’m just so tired from being teased all the time. It’s a love/hate relationship with film and television. It teases you relentlessly, but you always come back for more. It’s probably the most abusive relationship there is. Aside from any of those on Catfish though. Man have you SEEN that show! Goddamn!

Oh yeah. Pictures. Woo!

Last but not least, there’s also some actually pretty well designed movie posters. They’re still basically floating heads, but at least they’re good floating heads.

And last but not least, I certainly won’t add in that picture of Alice Eve in her underwear like last time, because I am a man of class and taste. However, I can’t be held responsible for whatever my editor decides to add here at the last-minute. Ahem.
Star Trek Into Darkness-International Trailer-Blonde Girl

Room 237 – New Trailer Looks Excellent

The Shining is one of my favorite horror movies of all time, and as I’ve previously written here before, I think potentially one of the best and most complex films of all time. It’s a film that a lot of people know and have seen but haven’t ever really taken the time to ponder the deeper themes or implications of. It’s one of my favorites for that reason alone, because watching it with a friend who claims to have seen it before, and “got it”, and then blowing their mind with the myriad weird details about the impossible architecture, subliminal meanings, commentary on cultural genocide, and of course the entire nature of the film itself being potentially not even supernatural at all. For the longest time though, finding out any of this information was only available online, either in long, relatively boring essays, or complicated, drawn out YouTube videos narrated poorly by some english dude with a lisp. Well that looks to change with the release of Room 237.

Room 237 is a documentary about all of the hidden, background themes in The Shining, be they present, extrapolated, or projected. Anything from thoughts about the Apollo 11 moon landing that Kubrick allegedly faked, to Native American genocide, to Hitler’s genocide, and I’m sure a slew more in between.

http://youtu.be/rHE5YUNkssQ

The best thing about this trailer, and at the same time the worst, is how little it shows. It’s essentially an unfunny parody of the original trailer for The Shining, only without the infamous elevator doors, which are now replaced by a VCR. It’s clever enough I think, but at the same time I think it’s one of the few cases where less isn’t more, but is still less. A more traditional trailer with snippets of talking heads briefly mentioning the topics that will inevitably be covered in the film would have been nice. It’s funny because I almost never say anything like that, and usually prefer more creative or inventive trailers like this one. I just happen to think the case is different for documentaries, since you’re really watching a movie about  a movie, little clips that would “spoil” things aren’t really that big of a deal, since the point is to spark thought and debate to begin with.

Room 237 is out now on a lot of VOD services, and in limited theaters (although good luck finding one playing it), so not only can you watch this trailer and be intrigued, but you can probably walk over to your Xbox/PS3/iTunes/Amazon/whatever and spark up the film to watch for yourself right then and there. It’s a film almost certainly worth watching if you’re a fan of The Shining, I know I am and I can’t wait to see it.

Room 237

Riddick: New Teaser is Real & Awesome & Confusingly Named

I’ve been waiting for the new Riddick movie ever since Chronicles Of Riddick came out in 2004. I thought that movie, and it’s infinitely superior director’s cut, was one of the most evocative, creative and interesting new worlds in science fiction to come around in a long time. No movie has ever really opened up a universe so widely and amazingly the way they did with the jump from Pitch Black to CoR. Between the heavy push to make an all new franchise under the “Chronicles Of Riddick” banner, Pitch Black became The Chronicles Of Riddick: Pitch Black, an anime short film was released called CoR: Dark Fury, and of course there was just Chronicles of Riddick, which presupposed its own banner name by using it as the title of the film. At the time David Twohy talked about turning Chronicles Of Riddick into a trilogy, and expanding the mythos even further. Unfortunately that didn’t happen, because CoR failed pretty spectacularly at the box office. The fact that we’re even getting a sequel, is to me, a damned amazing thing in and of itself, and I’m incredibly thankful to even have it at all. While it’s a bummer we won’t get the epic trilogy Twohy originally planned, I’m positive this will still be an amazing film. Now finally, close to a decade later, we get to see Riddick on the big screen again, and it’s a damned great thing. This teaser for it is exactly the kind of teaser I like to see, which is it shows the scale of the film, doesn’t give away plot details, and lets you know what the style, look, and feel of the film will be. It’s what a teaser should be.

via [DreadCentral]

[quote] Diesel reprises his role as the antihero Riddick, a dangerous, escaped convict wanted by every bounty hunter in the known galaxy. The infamous Riddick has been left for dead on a sun-scorched planet that appears to be lifeless. Soon, however, he finds himself fighting for survival against alien predators more lethal than any human he’s encountered. The only way off is for Riddick to activate an emergency beacon and alert mercenaries who rapidly descend to the planet in search of their bounty.

The first ship to arrive carries a new breed of merc, more lethal and violent, while the second is captained by a man whose pursuit of Riddick is more personal. With time running out and a storm on the horizon that no one could survive, his hunters won’t leave the planet without Riddick’s head as their trophy. [/quote]

Now aside from looking totally badass, I do have one complaint, and that’s that we’re running into a Rambo-esque naming problem with the movies here. No film franchise is as confusingly named as the Rambo franchise. You’ve got First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part 2, then they just cut out First Blood from the title and called the third movie, Rambo 3. Then the fourth movie they just called RAMBO, as if to say “F**K EVERYTHING, IT’S RAMBO WHO CARES RIGHT?”, and I’m afraid the Riddick franchise is doing a similar thing. If you had no knowledge of the Riddick Franchise, you’d be pretty confused about which movie goes first in any sort of chronological timeline. Furthermore are they all even still united under the ostensible brand of “Chronicles Of Riddick” anymore? I’ve seen reissues of Pitch Black just as Pitch Black now, without the CoR brand, and Dark Fury is more or less being ignored, and then there’s the video games which were AMAZING, but nobody played them either. Now we’ve just got “Riddick” with no CoR brand and well I guess I just give up. Listen, I’m not complaining. I’m totally stoked for the film. Honest. Now let’s hurry up and get it into theaters where it’ll bomb horribly and kill the franchise once and for all.

Excuse me, that sound you hear is the sound of my tears hitting the floor.

Riddick